Monthly Archives: February 2017

*** If you enjoy these prompts, or are looking to improve your writing or submit a manuscript, do take a look at my seven online courses… five currently half price and and two FREE! (coupon codes on the online courses page) and / or my Writer’s Block Workbooks… my best-selling eBooks – now available in eBook and paperback format!

Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs. As you’ll see by the heading numbers, you may have missed a few but the links are listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there. So here are your poetry and short story exercises…

Here are your four poetry exercises for today. If you enjoy these prompts, do take a look at my online courses… six are currently half price (when using the coupon codes on my main blog’s online courses page) and another is FREE!

Time yourself for 15 minutes per exercise, having a break in between each one or move on to the next. When you’ve finished, do pop over to this blog’s Facebook Group and let everyone know how you got on.

Below are the four – you can do them in any order.

Keywords: frosty, shopping, carpet, rig, vase

Random: helping someone old

Picture: what does this inspire?

Tuesday Title: Dream or Nightmare

Have fun, and if you would like to, do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on! Remember though that it counts as being published so don’t post anything that you would want to submit elsewhere (where they require unpublished material).

See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…

Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.

Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).

Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.

Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.

Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?

Here are your four story exercises for today. If you enjoy these prompts (or are looking to improve your writing or submit a manuscript), do take a look at my online courses… five are currently half price and the other two are FREE (when using coupon codes)!

2. The jury has the right to give a special prize (US$ 500 for entry in each category).
3. Special prize of the Literature and Latte – Scrivener Award – consisting of the one licensed software solutions “Scrivener” and US$250.
4. Special prize of The Literary Encyclopedia – an online reference work for English-language readers interested in broad literary and cultural matters – consisting of one 2-year subscriptions and one 1-year subscriptions to LE for shortlisted authors.
5. Editorial staff and board members will take under consideration shortlisted works (not awarded a prize) for publication in the second issue of the Hourglass Literary Magazine. The selected works will be FINANCIALLY compensated.

The competition is international and is open to all authors writing in English or any of the BCMS languages (comprising Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin.) There are no theme, or genre limitations and boundaries. Work must be original and unpublished. One author can compete in all categories, for all three awards respectively. Limited multiple submissions are allowed (as well as simultaneous submissions)

Short story: should not exceed 7000 words or be less than 700 words. Entry fee: $15 USD ($25 for submitting up to three pieces).

Poetry: Poems should not have more than 3500 words. WRITERS CAN SUBMIT UP TO THREE POEMS/SONGS. Entry fee: $15 USD.

Essays: Essays should not exceed 9000 words or be less than 1000 words. Entry fee: 15 USD ($25 for submitting up to three papers).

Hourglass Literary Magazine strives – and this is our manifesto’s core – to mix voices in one polyphonic structure, i.e. to connect writers who write in English, whether as native English speakers or international, with authors who write in what it used to be one language – Serbo-Croatian. With that being said, Hourglass Literary Magazine’s Issue No.1 featured authors are Philip Ó Ceallaigh, Irish short-story writer and David Albahari. Praised by many, academics, writers and (common) readers, Hourglass Literary Magazine – thanks to Ms Mirjana Miočinović and Pascale Delpech – gained exclusive rights to be the first to print Danilo Kiš’s unpublished works in English, including interviews, essays and short stories. After Mark Thompson’s (who is also contributor of the first issue), “Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš” and book edited by Susan Sontag “Homo Poeticus: Essays and Interviews”, collection that introduced Danilo Kis to a wider, global audience, we are the third literary venture, and the first literary journal to continue rich saga about Danilo Kis.
For us – writing competition is essential! WE FEEL that our effort in scavenging works in three categories (Best Short Story, Best Essay and Best Poem) would be insufficient. That is exactly why we pursuit, why we solicit contributions from widely recognised authors and finally why we simultaneously challenge ourselves seeking and exploring various editorial methods and models. Hourglass Literary Magazine is staffed mostly by writers. Therefore, for us, publishing literary magazine is creative process – every syllable counts, every word counts.

The well-written book can provide a cathartic experience for the reader.

Catharsis is the expulsion, repulsion, or purification of toxins and impurities. Emotional catharsis can allow the release and possible transformation of many different negative feelings. These may be toxic emotions built up from real life or emotions instilled by the writer.

Before you can give the reader a cathartic experience, you need to decide which emotions you want to harvest and plant the seeds for those reactions.

Next you need to grow the feelings until they tangle up inside the reader and turn toxic.

Grow Well

Anxiety in the reader happens for three main reasons. First, the reader must care about the character. Second, a bad outcome must be possible. Third, the odds need to be neither strongly for nor strongly against the character. Anxiety comes from caring, risk, and uncertainty. All three of these should be raised carefully…

The well-written book can provide a cathartic experience for the reader.

Catharsis is the expulsion, repulsion, or purification of toxins and impurities. Emotional catharsis can allow the release and possible transformation of many different negative feelings. These may be toxic emotions built up from real life or emotions instilled by the writer.

Before you can give the reader a cathartic experience, you need to decide which emotions you want to harvest and plant the seeds for those reactions.

Plan wisely

What negative reader reactions should you aim for? I think the top three reactions could be anxiety, fear, and sorrow. All three of these reactions are signs of an interested reader who has become invested in your characters and plot.

Anxietygrows from prolonged suspense. Anxiety is caused when the reader understands the situation and either does not know how things will end. Reader anxiety can be useful at…

This picture got me thinking about gleeful destruction. This destruction could be celebratory like when children break a pinata. Or the delight might come from accidental destruction, maybe a burst seam during a vigorous pillow fight. Or the glee might follow deliberate destruction — a defeated enemy, severed chains, a poisonous relationship ended.

This week’s writing prompt: Plan or write a scene of gleeful destruction. Go ahead and focus on the joy but also consider ways such scenes can move the larger story towards the climax.

Some of my ideas…

Include an onlooker. Why doesn’t he join in? Maybe he holds a grudge or is in too much pain.

End the scene with a hint of the consequences of the destructive act.

Play with the sense of “fun”, maybe making it forced or desperate.

What are your ideas for adding complexity to such a scene or connecting the scene to the bigger story?

*** If you enjoy these prompts, or are looking to improve your writing or submit a manuscript, do take a look at my seven online courses… five currently half price and and two FREE! (coupon codes on the online courses page) and / or my Writer’s Block Workbooks… my best-selling eBooks – now available in eBook and paperback format!

Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs. As you’ll see by the heading numbers, you may have missed a few but the links are listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there. So here are your poetry and short story exercises…

Here are your four poetry exercises for today. If you enjoy these prompts, do take a look at my online courses… six are currently half price (when using the coupon codes on my main blog’s online courses page) and another is FREE!

Time yourself for 15 minutes per exercise, having a break in between each one or move on to the next. When you’ve finished, do pop over to this blog’s Facebook Group and let everyone know how you got on.

Below are the four – you can do them in any order.

Keywords: Ben, accident, front, digging, also

Random: a mound of earth

Picture: what does this inspire?

One-word prompt: building

Have fun, and if you would like to, do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on! Remember though that it counts as being published so don’t post anything that you would want to submit elsewhere (where they require unpublished material).

See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…

Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.

Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).

Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.

Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.

Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?

Here are your four story exercises for today. If you enjoy these prompts (or are looking to improve your writing or submit a manuscript), do take a look at my online courses… five are currently half price and the other two are FREE (when using coupon codes)!

Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one. When you’ve finished, do pop over to this blog’s Facebook Group and let everyone know how you got on.

Below are the four – you can do them in any order.

Keywords: amazed, point, 2017, brighten, Elaine

Random: mix today’s prompts

Picture: what does this inspire?

One-word prompt: milk

Have fun, and if you would like to, do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on! Remember though that it counts as being published so don’t post anything that you would want to submit elsewhere (where they require unpublished).